The above images are all from Versace's S/S 2009 line, and are as good an example as any of why an elegant gentleman's mantra should always be, "I am above fashion. I am beyond fashion. I am not a slave to fashion."
Being stylish and elegant has nothing to do with fashion, per se; it is very possible to spend exorbitant sums of money at high-end designer boutiques, and wind up looking even less stylish or elegant than you did before. Buying something strictly because it has an expensive label, or because a magazine or celebrity told you it was "this season's must have," is a common yet grave error. For one thing, not every fashion or trend will be suitable for every type; and, since trends are by nature very ephemeral, it is also quite likely that you will be spending quite a lot of money on something which will very soon be decidedly un-fashionable, when the fashion winds change once again.
The hoary old phrase, "To thine own self, be true," was never more applicable than when it comes to personal style. In Terrence McNally's brilliant play, Master Class, an impeccably tailored, severely elegant Maria Callas sternly and wryly addresses a member of the audience. "You do not have a look," she says. "Get one." It is advice worth following, rather than merely following fashion.
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